QUETTA: In a major breakthrough, Parliamentary Committee on Kashmir Chairman Shehryar Khan Afridi averted a major crisis in Balochistan coalition government by holding separate meetings with Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Balochistan President Sardar Yar Mohammad Rind and convincing both to mend their differences.
It merits mention that Rind has been actively demanding resignation of CM Jam Kamal and has been vocal against the chief minister. He has also led a delegation of the PTI from the Balochistan Assembly to federal capital and has held meetings with Prime Minister Imran Khan, Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar and others and demanded ‘removal’ of Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal from his post.
In his meeting with Umar, Rind said “it has become impossible to work with Jam Kamal”. PTI deputy parliamentary leader Naseebullah Marri and other MNAs and MPAs participated in the meeting and expressed reservations over the Balochistan government.
Sources privy to the development told Pakistan Today that Education Minister Sardar Yar Mohammad Rind, who has been actively and openly speaking against his chief minister Jam Kamal Khan. However, the sources said that the differences both the chieftains kept growing and finally Yar Mohammad Rind had decided to tender resignations from his ministerial portfolio as well as the PTI’s provincial president.
However, the sources said that Shehryar Khan Afridi visited Quetta on the direction of Prime Minister Imran Khan and held separate meetings with chief minister Balochistan Sardar Jam Kamal and Sardar Yar Mohammad Rind and convinced both of them to mend fences.
The sources said that Shehryar Afridi met Sardar Yar Mohammad Rind first and conveyed a special message from the prime minister. The sources added that Shehryar told Yar Mohammad Rind that the coalition government in Balochistan needed to be supported.
The sources said that Yar Mohammad Rind was accompanied by party’s founding president Nawabzada Jogezai and other party office bearers who also supported the view of Rind. However, the sources said that Shehryar Khan Afridi convinced Rind not to resign as any such step may put the coalition government into a jeopardy.
The source said that Shehryar Afridi first convinced Yar Mohammad Rind not to resign from provincial cabinet and Yar Muhammad Rind promised not to resign. Rind also agreed to consider Shahryar Khan Afridi’s request to end differences with Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan.
Later during the meeting with Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan, Afridi urged him to meet Yar Muhammad Rind and mend differences.
“Jam Kamal promised to Shehryar that he will try to remove Rind’s reservations and would meet him soon. Shahryar Khan Afridi’s efforts averted the threat of crisis in the Balochistan government and the differences between PTI Balochistan and Chief Minister Balochistan likely to end,” the sources concluded.
